In Ludhiana, couple killed yr after inter-caste marriage

While Harpreet Singh belonged to a Scheduled Caste, his 25-year-old wife Amandeep Kaur was an upper-caste Jat Sikh. Harpreet’s father Parkash Singh Jandali, a senior BSP leader, accused Amandeep’s father and other relatives of plotting the murder, alleging that they had always resented their daughter’s marriage to a lower-caste boy.

Amandeep was the only daughter of her parents. Incidentally, just 10 days ago her father Amrik Singh and mother migrated to Australia to live with her brother.

Police have registered a case of murder against Amrik and some of Amandeep’s other relatives. Also named in the FIR is a head constable, Tejinder Singh, working with Division Number 6 Police Station, Ludhiana. Admitting this, Sadar police SHO Sandeep Sharma said Tejinder was out on an official duty.

Harpreet and Amandeep were found murdered in their rented house in Kiran Vihar colony of Ludhiana yesterday morning. Today their bodies were cremated.

Jandali said Harpreet, who used to work with a furniture dealer, and Amandeep, a student of dentistry, had fallen in love at a dargah they used to visit in Dugri. However, with their families objecting to their marriage, the couple had eloped and sought the protection of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Jandali said that following the HC intervention, Amandeep’s father Amrik Singh, a well-heeled manager of a bank with a posh address in Amritsar, had agreed to the match and taken his daughter home. However, according to Jandali, while Amandeep was home, Amrik had tried to kill her but that she was saved by her mother.

Later, Amrik had come around and the two families had thrown a joint party to celebrate the marriage last year. But it was a quiet affair, for Amrik apparently didn’t want a crowd.

Jandali said that after the marriage, Harpreet and Amandeep had lived with his family for some time before moving into a rented house in Model Town. Twenty days ago, they shifted to a Kiran Vihar house belonging to Amrik’s friend. ‘‘It was Amrik who asked them to shift,’’ claims Jandali, who runs a moderately successful iron business.

Ten days ago, Amrik and his wife left for Australia to join their only son who lives there. ‘‘He was all sweetness when he left and promised to help Harpreet and Amandeep emigrate to Australia at the earliest,’’ said Jandali.

Alleging that it was a pre-planned murder, Jandali claimed that Amrik called him up this morning at 1.14 am from Australia and said: ‘‘Tussi mainu barbad kar ditta (You have ruined me).’’

Jandali said he had reported this call to the Sadar police, but SHO Sharma expressed ignorance about it.